Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-07
How Seine OF His Wonderful Feats are
Perf0rmed-The Slave Girls
Dream
How the Vanishing Lady Vanishes, Per
haps-The Chair and the Newspaper.
The Amateurs Wonderment.
Brooklyn Times.

which adds not little to The charm
which it possesses, and even some of the
most "chestnutty' of his tricks are almost
made to appear fresh and novel. He has
q happy knack of ingratiating himself
with his auditors and of displaying great
tact in knowing just whom to select
among them to "play" with. In this con.
nectiOn an amusing incident occurred on
Monday evening. Hermann went among
the audience to secure a number Hof
watches, and when he had gathered
in four of them he induced a young
gentleman who bears somewhat
"enviable" reputation in the saetion Of
the city in WhiC he resides s$s q clever
amateur magician to accompany him to
the stage anG assist him with the trick.
The young gentleman was only trifie
embarrassed, but he chad been there be
fore" and knew it all in fact, as he had
confidently stated to, friend before
going into the theatre that night, che
felt he could almost teach Hermann a
thing or two" When the trick is
finished the aches are generally found
10 be dangling to the rung of a chair on
which the assistant is seated. In this
instance three only of the watches were
ScGu luSI6s the IOuIIH udu USSu ClSNSIly
affixed to tie back of the young gentle
mans coat. He was totally ignorant of
it. It is unnecessary to state the aU-
dience appreciated the situation TO the
full.
Hermann lisa wonderfully clever man
in his line, and two Of his tricks have been
considered utterly beyond comprehension
to those not in the secret. Those alluded
m ~
and the "Slave Girls Dream" The
latter the writer has seen performed in
Japan and China, and was quite puzzled
by it for some time, although the
apparatus used by the japanese magicians
is much more crude than Herrmann's, and
consequently the trick is more liable of
detection. The trick attracted the atten-
ton of most of the residents of Shanghai.
China, some seven years ago, where it
was given Oy q clever old fellow who had
been doing Australia for several years,
with his daughter as his assistant. The
writer at that time became perfectly
familiar with the manner in which the
trick is done. A brief description of it
here would not be out of place.
Hermann has greatly improved, at
least in outward appearances, on the ap-
parstuS used by Professor --, but the
principle is the same.
When Nine. Hermann takes up her pO-
sihon on the platform only one upright
rod of metal is noticed on it, and this in
reality IS the only one practically used in
the performance of the trick, the other
on which her left arm is supposed TO be
supported while Hermann goes through
the mummery of mesmeriZing her is
simply lsed to enhance the mystery sur
rounding the trick. The upright, which
is fixed, is hollow and of the
finest tempered steel. On Nine.
Herrmann's body is complete
harness, also of steel, combined with
a number of leather straps. One portion
of the harness, stiff and strong, follows
the curves of the body from the right
shoulder to the waist, where broad
waist band is attached, then it runs down
the thigh to the knee, just below which it
terminates in broad band which enCir
Cles the limb at that point. It will be
seen, then, that the whole right side Of
the body is laid in a powerful, though
slightly built, steel cradle. At the right
armpit there is 8 curve of this cradle,
which finally terminates in hinge, and
few inches further on is slot, which is
inserted by Hermann, while he
is apparently arranging madame's
drapery and placing her arms
appropriately, in the upper end of the
hollow upright tube of steel. The drap-
cry, of course, hides this cradle. Herr
mann can move madame at will, the hinge
being operated by a ratchet and paWI,
which enables him to place the lady in
any position desired and keep her there
for any desired time. 1t is really very
simple but one of the most effective tricks
ever performed. Hermann made sue
Cession of very beautiful pictures in his
costuming of Nine. Hermann while she
is thus suspended and shows consummate |
art in his manipulation of the supposed |
mesmerized lady. "The Vanishing Lady, |
trick is apparently incomprehensible, but
many journalists have made study of it, |
and it is thought that this solu-
ton of the mystery is correct. |
A brief outline of what the writer noticed |
on Monday night in relation to it !
may be taken for what it is worth. He |
noticed from disposition Of vantage that |
Hermann was particular about the |
placing of the newspaper on the carpet; |
that wnen it was inally in position it !
exactly covered a well outlined section of |
the carpet; the chair was placed on Just |
one-hslf of the paper, the half nearest the |
footlights. The chair has no rungs and a |
close back; after Madame had taken her |
seat and the s1lken cloth was thrown over
her the outline of her form was visible !
Hermann stoops to draw the |
cloth out to the fullest extent, expanding |
probably minute to a minute and half |
of time in dong so, during which time
Madame disappears. The cover is lifted
up, the chair is found empty, and
the audience look mystitied and |
are glad they came. This
is about what the writer saw. He rea-
soned about this way over the trick.
When Hermann throws the cloth over
his wife ne touches a spring in the back
of the chair, and q light wire frame
springs up, the top of which is rounded
out to resemble the human head. Over
this the cloth is thrown, and does not, IN
reality, touch the madame's head at all.
While Hermann is Strengthening out the
cloth at madame's feet, madame is doing
something like this inside, and doing it
quickly, too. By the use of spring the
chair seat, which is hung on hinges,
drops, and that norton of the exit is